Swedish far-right disappointed as SD falls shy of hoped-for EU election gains

The Sweden Democrats (ECR) came fourth in the European elections, despite being the second-largest party in the national parliament, marking the party’s first loss of ground in an election since entering parliament.

Although the Sweden Democrats (SD) retained their three MEPs, expectations were significantly higher as the party also wanted to reflect its status as Sweden’s second-largest party in the European Parliament.

However, for the first time since entering the Swedish parliament in 2010, the party has lost ground in elections with 13.2%,  2% less than the 2019 vote.

Besides trailing behind the victorious Social Democrats (S&D), who won 24.9%, and Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson’s Moderates (EPP), who came second with 17.3%, the SD was beaten by the Greens, who won 13.8% compared to just 5% in the national elections, and currently have four times fewer MPs than the SD in the national parliament.

“It is wonderful to see these figures. We are strong, we are the third largest party,” said Green Party spokesman Daniel Helldén on Monday.

“I think the Swedish people realise that the SD is not an alternative,” he added.

However, Tobias Hübinette, a professor at Karlstad University, explains that the reason could be the comparatively lower turnout for European elections than national elections.

“The decline of the Sweden Democrats is most probable due to the decrease of voter participation, which means that many young adults and working-class people voting for SD abstained from voting,” Hübinette told Euractiv.

For SD leader Jimmie Åkesson, the EU election campaign was marked by the so-called “troll farm scandal” and not how Sweden should position itself at the EU level, adding that SD thus had to talk about “completely different things”.

Indeed, Sweden’s EU campaign was dominated by the scandal surrounding the far-right troll factory linked to the SD, as Swedish broadcaster TV4 revealed in May that the far-right party had used numerous anonymous accounts to spread social media content favourable to its views, sometimes at the expense of its coalition allies.

On election night, Kristersson’s Moderate Party (EPP) breathed a sigh of relief after retaining its position as the second-largest party in the EU elections after the Social Democrats.

“Order has been restored,” said the party’s top candidate, Tomas Tobé.

The prime minister was more restrained in his comments and instead reached out to other parties.

“When the dust settles after the election campaign, let’s look more to all that can unite us – Team Sweden in the EU,” he said.

(Charles Szumski | Euractiv.com)

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